TJF - Getting Word African American Oral History Project Archive

The Getting Word African American Oral History Archive is based upon of nearly three decades of research materials collected as part of an oral history project founded by Lucia (Cinder) Stanton, senior historian emeritus at Monticello; Dianne Swann-Wright, former director of African American Special programs at Monticello, and Beverly Gray, historian and project consultant. Their work has illuminated and preserved the stories of people whose lives and achievements were not only pivital to life at Monticello, but to the building and progress of our nation.

The archive's materials include voluminous correspondence, handwritten research notes, summaries, and reference materials; interview transcriptions and audio/video recordings; gathered background information on enslaved individuals, their descendants, and community; inquiries from descendants regarding lineage; all manner of pubic records: census, birth, marriage, death records; newspaper clippings, some of which date back to the early 1800s; family photographs, slides, personal effects, as well as administrative files.